What did walkouts achieve?

[leobold1]

What did walkouts achieve? | Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Latest News

A year after immigration rallies, some wonder if anything's changed


08:00 AM CDT on Monday, March 26, 2007
By DIANNE SOLÍS / The Dallas Morning News
dsolis@dallasnews.com

Just about a year ago, Antonio was having a tough time staying focused in his Spanish literature class and the discussion of Don Juan in the play El Burlador de Sevilla.

His fellow students at Irving High School were talking about a walkout to protest a proposed bill on Capitol Hill that would make instant felons of those in the U.S. illegally. And 17-year-old Antonio could become one of those felons.

Within three hours, he stood in front of Dallas City Hall.

It was the second day of unprecedented student walkouts last March. About 10,000 students would skip classes over three days. Within 11 days, tens of thousands of adults would follow in what experts say was the largest civil protest in Texas history.

The legislation that spurred the walkouts is now dead, though the debate over illegal immigration continues to rage as Congress prepares to tackle a solution to a broken federal system. But some immigrants wonder whether the protests simply served to inflame tensions.

Every day, the talk against illegal immigrants grows more vicious, said Antonio, who agreed to speak on the condition that we not use his full name.

"Things changed for the worst," he said. "Now after all that has happened, cities are asking people to verify their legality, police are becoming agents of ICE," he added, using the acronym for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The walkouts gave factions opposing illegal immigrants the opportunity to be open about how they felt and to "come to the conclusion that they had to do something about people here illegally," he said.

Two months after the walkouts, Antonio graduated in the top 10 percent of his class, securing for himself a spot at any public university in Texas. He's enrolling at a community college this summer, to save money.

He hopes to transfer to the University of North Texas in Denton by next year, provided that he and his mother can afford the tuition.

And he wants desperately to become a U.S. citizen. He's one of about 65,000 illegal immigrant students who graduate from U.S. high schools each year, thanks to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said it is unconstitutional to deny a public education to children in the U.S. illegally.


Marches

Despite the backlash, others believe that the walkouts and protests benefited illegal immigrants.

"The walkouts, and especially the marches around the country, figured very strongly in the death of the felony provisions" in the tough, enforcement-only legislation proposed by Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., said Luis Cabrera, a political science professor at Arizona State University.

And this could be the year that the DREAM Act is passed, Dr. Cabrera said, as students are more palatable to many politicians because they're viewed as innocents in the national debate. The DREAM Act stands for the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act.

"I have known many students who would benefit from the DREAM Act, and they have been some of the most impressive people with whom I've ever worked," he said.

Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a Washington lobbying group with a long track record in pushing for immigration restrictions, simply calls it amnesty and says it shouldn't become law.

"People who want amnesty want to break it up in bite-size pieces rather than jam it down whole in the throats of people," Mr. Mehlman said. "It is amnesty for a certain number of people."

The group is fighting any legislation that provides a pathway to citizenship for a portion of the nation's 12 million illegal immigrants. That includes a proposal in Congress to legalize illegal immigrant students who plan to attend college or enter the military, which they view as amnesty. The bill would apply to those with five continuous years in the U.S. who got here before the age of 15.

Passage into the adult world for Antonio, who is now 18, hasn't been easy. He holds a restaurant job, though he doesn't have a Social Security number. He doesn't have a driver's license, because he doesn't have a Social Security number.

He's comfortable in Irving, where one out three persons is foreign-born. And he has no desire to return to the city of his birth – Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.

"It is dirty, and it is rundown," he said. "The opportunities to grow there are very slim. There aren't opportunities to become someone."


American culture

Like many other students, Antonio grew up in the American culture, fluent in English, with ambitions to hold a job, go to college.

That is, until he realized something was amiss in his records.

Antonio said he didn't know how precarious his own situation was until he was about 15 years old.

Life was sometimes difficult, surviving with his mother on her housekeeper wages in an Irving apartment. But he thought he had a good future ahead.

Then, it hit him. He lacked legal status.

"I was confused. I was dumbfounded. I was clueless," he said. "It was too much information for me to grasp in the ninth and 10th grade."

Many students with U.S. citizenship take their good fortune for granted, he said.

"They think just because of some number they are better," he said of the nine-digit Social Security number that attests to lawful U.S. presence. "They just don't appreciate what they have and when they have something and it's taken away, they think they can get it back easily, that they are entitled."

If he finishes college and finds a path to legalization, he's likely to become a translator and help people "with barriers," he said.

"All I need is an opportunity, and then I'll run with it."

Two sisters who participated in the walkouts have similar aspirations.

One wants to be a lobbyist; the other a U.S. senator.

The 18-year-old is here illegally. The 16-year-old was born a U.S. citizen. They agreed to speak fully on the condition of anonymity.

Both walked out of their Dallas classes last March.

They hesitated – if only for a moment.

One is a self-described goodie-goodie. The other was afraid that high school gangs would start their "nonsense."

Independently, they arrived at Keist Park, where crowds were singing the Mexican anthem, "Mexicanos al grito de guerra," Mexicans at the cry of war.

And then, explains the older sister, "not many knew the words."

The ironies of the day would pull at her throughout the year.

She left Mexico still in diapers, in the protective arms of her parents. It is "beautiful and real different," she said, but her home is in the U.S.

"To some degree, we accomplished what we wanted," she said of the walkouts. "I can't say all kids had a set agenda. The walkouts were a way to be heard. At our age, we don't sit down and write letters to congressmen. It was a way to stand up for our parents."

She is now finishing her freshman year at a Texas university on a full scholarship. Her living expenses are paid for by a second, smaller scholarship. She needs no car, which is liberating. A good thing, because without a Social Security number, she can't get a driver's license.

By the next federal elections, her situation will be "clarified," said the 18-year-old.

But her fight is mostly for her parents, she insists.

"My dad being an immigrant and being able to buy a house and establish his own company ... is inspiring," she said. "And kids just wanted to defend their parents.

"We reached our goals. As a result it has changed many of our lives."

Her ambitions have changed, too. She no longer wants to be a doctor.

"I want to become a lobbyist," she said. "I could work the Senate, and with my sister being one of the senators this could happen."

Organizer

Gustavo Jimenez, the well-known teen responsible for rallying students to walk out, has already been pressed into action as a student lobbyist, visiting with the staff of Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn to press for passage of the DREAM Act.

Mr. Jimenez text-messaged from a top-of-the-line cellphone and got other students to mimic him in a choreographed technology that led to the walkouts. Proposed legislation on Capitol Hill would crack down hard on illegal immigrants and it was time for students to stand up for those "in that unfortunate situation," he said.

"The people say, 'Obey the laws,' but they don't realize that those kids were only 2 or 3 years old and didn't have a choice to come over here," said Mr. Jimenez, a U.S.-born citizen and son of former illegal immigrants. "It is a weird situation for them. It is so awkward."

It was all part of his yearlong baptism into the divisive debate over illegal immigration.

Many days, 17-year-old Mr. Jimenez would just like to focus on finishing his senior year at Duncanville High School, working his part-time job at J.C. Penney and helping his parents with living expenses.

In the fall, he plans to enroll in Mountain View Community College, where tuition is low. Then, he will transfer to a four-year university and study business, he said.

He wants to be an entrepreneur, possibly own a construction company or become a developer.

But in the meantime, he knows someone will press him into action for another speech, or rally.

"A lot of people live in fear," he said. "They fear immigrants. ... This frustrates me. People need to be closer."

---------------------

Its amazing all these kids who stood up for what they believed in just one year ago, now only giving interviews if their name isn't used.

Now THERE'S that Latino honor I've heard about.

The last line was said with tongue fully in cheek.

[leobold1]

DISD issues warning on walkouts | Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Latest News

DISD issues warning on walkouts

Officials worried about more protests on anniversary

07:06 PM CDT on Monday, March 26, 2007
By DIANNE SOLÍS / The Dallas Morning News
dsolis@dallasnews.com

The Dallas Independent School District is placing students and their parents on notice: Students who walk out of classes will be punished.

Tuesday is the one-year anniversary of three days of walkouts from Dallas-area high schools over federal immigration policies. District officials say they worry about a sequel this week.

Last year, some 10,000 students left classes in protest, heading to Kiest Park and then Dallas City Hall. On the second day of walkouts, some students even stormed into City Hall, trying to reach receptive ears in council chambers.

"We want students to know that we have a code of conduct and there will be disciplinary processes," if there are walkouts, said DISD Assistant Superintendent Jose Luis Torres. "We are going to talk to students about using history on how they can impact legislative process."

Disciplinary consequences "may include, but are not limited to:"

• In-school and out-of-school suspension;

• Detention;

• Restrictions from participation in extra-curricular activities and graduation activities;

• And community service.

"Each day a student misses class is a day of education lost," reads a letter penned by DISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa to parents. "Regardless of your stance on immigration issues, your support is needed in ensuring your child understands the importance of being in school."

In Arlington, Superintendent Mac Bernd said he sent e-mails to the district's principals Monday, but none had heard rumors of a walkout. He said he doesn't expect there to be a mass walkout like last year when several hundred students left their campuses. Dr. Bernd warned students last year that there would be consequences for those who participated in future walkouts.

"The students were very respectful and polite and returned to class when we asked them to," he said about last year's demonstration.

School officials in Dallas said they have heard rumors of possible walkouts this week.

Dr. Torres said the district has been monitoring the social networking site myspace.com, but he said students have "more effective" ways of communicating.

Last year, students were activated via bulletins posted on myspace, through text-messaging from cellular phones and by watching television newscasts of walk-outs in Los Angeles days earlier.

About two-thirds of students in the DISD are Hispanic and many of them come from immigrant families.

Last year, an enforcement-only bill by Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wisc., threatened to make instant felons of all illegal immigrants. That proposal – since tabled – led to social protests around the nation. The Dallas protests on April 9 were the largest in Texas history.

Some of the students involved in last year's protests acknowledged they were in the U.S. illegally, in interviews with The Dallas Morning News . They said they wanted passage of proposed federal legislation that would legalize illegal immigrant students who went to college.

The students argued that they are not to blame for being brought to the U.S. illegally as children. The legislation for illegal immigrant-students was reintroduced in the latest session of Congress. It is known as the DREAM Act, or the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act.

"We would encourage students to become informed of the DREAM Act and they can participate in community sponsored rallies and events," Dr. Torres said. "We encourage them to share their views with federal legislators on immigration."

In an interview with The Dallas Morning News published Monday, Dr. Hinojosa said he supports passage of the legislation.

Staff Writer Jeff Mosier contributed to this report.

[Woodmonkey]

But some immigrants wonder whether the protests simply served to inflame tensions.

Every day, the talk against illegal immigrants grows more vicious, said Antonio, who agreed to speak on the condition that we not use his full name.

It might have because of the 'in your face' attitude of those demonstrating illegal aliens who acted like they had more rights than the rest of us.

The walkouts gave factions opposing illegal immigrants the opportunity to be open about how they felt and to "come to the conclusion that they had to do something about people here illegally," he said.

I think it forced people to recognize the millitant nature of illegals and the fact that they were actually getting their way.

Two months after the walkouts, Antonio graduated in the top 10 percent of his class, securing for himself a spot at any public university in Texas. He's enrolling at a community college this summer, to save money.

< snip >

And he wants desperately to become a U.S. citizen. He's one of about 65,000 illegal immigrant students who graduate from U.S. high schools each year, thanks to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said it is unconstitutional to deny a public education to children in the U.S. illegally.

WTH?!!!? He's going to college free on our dime?

The rest of the article is just the usual sob story stuff about how wonderful they are. Well, I'm sure that a lot of them are wonderful, but there are a lot more wonderful legal immigrants and citizens who should be getting the free college and other benefits - NOT illegals.